Electromechanical action for musical instruments.



M. L. SEVERY & G. B. SLNULIAIR. ELEGTROMEGHANIOAL ACTION FOR MUSICALINSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB, 25, 1910. 1,104,282, Patented July 21, 1914. v

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Geo I eB.Sia o1 i Sm I MELVIN n SEVERY, or

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, AND GEORGE E. MEDFORI), MASSACHUSETTS.

SINCLAIR, or

ELECTROMECHANICAL ACTION FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Tetters Patent. i

Patented July 21, 1914.

Application filed February 25, 1910. Serial No. 545,961.

To all whom tt 'may concern:

Be it known that we, MELVIN L. SEvnRY, of Arlington Heights, in thecounty of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and GEORGE B.SINCLAIR, of Medford, in said county and Commonwealth, both citizens ofthe United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inElectromechanical Actions for Musical Instruments, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of musical instruments whereintuned sonorous bodies are vibrated by electromagnets having suitablytimed electric pulsations delivered thereto; and our improvementspertain to means controlling both the mechanical and electricalvibration of said sonorous bodies, such means comprising both the initiating and terminating of the vibrations of said bodies.-

In certain copending applications we have shown, described and claimed,in some instances broadly and in others more specifically, featureswhich are illustrated and described in the present application, butwhich are not herein claimed only in the specific construction orcombination expressed; In other copending applications we have broadlyclaimed the art of producing musical tones, which art is involved but isnot claimed in the present application. All matters set forth andclaimed in copending applications filed in our joint names, or inthename, of either of us, and

not definitely expressed in the claims hereof, are expressly saved andreserved for one or another of said copending applications,in which suchmatters are claimed or intended Serial No. 563,437,

- rial No. 573,135, filed July 21,

to be claimed. Among these copending applications may be noted thefollowing o1nt applications: Serial No. 273,199, filed August 7, 1905;Serial No. 273,202, filed August 7, 1905; Serial No. 379,714, filed June19, 1907; Serial No. 380,987, filed June 26, 1907; Serial No. 384,872,filed July 22,1907; Serial No. 531,589, filed December 6, 1909; SerialNo. 537,257, filed January 10, 1910; Serial No. 545,962, filed February25, 1910; Serial No. 545,963, filed February 25, 1910; filed May 25,1910; Se.-

No. 745,400, filed January 31, 1913; Serial or are here claimedarmature.

1910; Serial No. 753,013, filed March 8, 1913; Serial No. 753,014, filedMarch 8, 1913; Serial No. 7 57 ,87 2, filed March 31, 1913; and SerialNo. 793,481, renewahOct. 4, 1913. v

The figure shown in the drawing forming A part of th1s specification isa side sectional elevation of the upper part of a musical instrumentmade in accordance with our invention, showing other connected parts indiagram.

: The musical instrumentjto which we illustrate our improvements asapplied is of the type which we term our multiple instru' ment; the samecomprising two complete sets of strings 1, each set preferablyembracingseveral octaves and located back to back one behindthe other. Each ofthese strings 1s vibrated by an electromagnet 2; the front strings beingin addition adapted to be percussively vibrated by hammers 3 ofsubstantially the ordinary construction. The hammer action is much thesame as in the ordinary upright piano, with the exception that thestickers 4 by which the elevation of the inner ends of the keys5 iscommunicated to the wippens 6, and thence to the hammers, are adapted tobe at will disengaged from said parts 6, and the hammers therebyseparated from their'keys. In such case, the front strings as well asthe back strings must be undamped electrically alone. We thereforelocate below the tail of each damper 7 a pivoted lever 8 carrying aspoon 9 engaging such tail, in such a manner that a downward pull givento such levers causes the dampers to be withdrawn from their respectivestrings. To thus pull the levers 8, a pivotally supported'armature 10 isprovided for each thereof, and a stationary electromagnet 11 is placedbeneath each A wire link 12 bein to each lever 8 and to its associatedarmature 10, an energizing current transm'tted to said electromagnetsimmediately causes them to withdraw theda-mpers from their strings.

,For insurin'g that the electric actuation of any string will releaseits damper-therefrom at once, the following construction made, referringfirst to the front electromag-. nets: The current" from the source 13through the common lead wire 14 'tothe brushes 15,-as any-onexofattached a the said brushes iselevated by the action ofits associatedkey into touch with its associated contact 16, is taken therefromthrough a wire 17 to the proper electromagnet' 2. Simultaneously withthis, current passes from said contact through the wire 18 to theassociated electromagnet 11, and from thence by the common wire 19 backto the source 13. Both the electromagnets 2 and 11 being thussimult-aneously energized, a damper is withdrawn from its string theinstant the latter is caused to vibrate.

The portion of the circuit-section from each said front electromagnet 2back to its source 13 comprises a wire 20, harmonic controller 21,:rpression control 22, pulsation device 28, and wire 24; while thecircuit-section to the back electromagnets 2- starting from said source13, comprises the said wire 241-, pulsation device 23, pedal rheostat25, harmonic controller 26, wire 27, to said back electromagnets 2;thence through the wire 28, harmonic switch 29, wire 30,

contact 31, brush 32 controlled by a key 33 of the upper bank of keyswhich we prefer to employ, and finally by the common wire at back tosaid source. Inasmuch as we wish to control the vibration of the backstrings by the lower bank of keys 5 as well as by said upper bank, thecurrent from the harmonic switch 29 may pass therefrom through thecut-out 35, and thence by the wire 36 to the contact 37, and then to thebrush 38 which is carried by the same lever extension 89 as moves saidbrush15, and finally by the common wire 14: back to the source. If it iswished to energize the back electromagnets by the upper bank of keys 33alone, the cut-out 35 is shifted to open all the circuits between thewires 36 and the harmonic switch 29. The said contacts 37 are designedto be located in the same plane as the contacts 16, but are representedas in diiferent planes in order to more clearly show the same. V y

The electromagnets 11 of the back dampers 7 are each joined by a wire 40to a wire '28 and by a wire 41 to the common wire 19,

- so that the instant a back electromagnet 2 is energized, -a portion ofthe unpulsated current from the source 13- will traverse the windings ofthe associated electromagnet 11 and thereby cause the undamping of itsstring.

We prefer to arrange the electromagnets in two rows one above the otherfor both the front and back set for the reason that this plan efi'eetsan economy of room and permits the use of larger electromagnets.Consequently, they are preferably put in two rows, with the magnet 11-controlling one damper in the upper row; the magnet 11 controlling thenext damper in the lower row; the magnet 11 controlling the third dam erin the upper row, and so on.

- en the stickers 4 are permitted to 're-[ main with their upper endsclose beneath the boss 42 of wippens 6, the hammers 3 will be operatedin the usual way, and the dampers 7 of the front strings will bewithdrawn in the following manner: As already stated, the levers 8 arepivoted to the wippens 6, but the pivotal arrangement is such that whilethe said levers are not prevented thereby from swinging downward whilethe wippens 6 remain stationary, when said wippens are raised foroperating the hammers, such raising of each hammer will force itsassociated lever 8 downward and thereby cause its spoon to withdraw itsdamper 7 Our preferred means for swinging the stickers 1 into and out ofengagement with wippens 6 consists of a rocker-shaft 4:3 actuated by anysuitable means, as a lever-arm 44 and a connection 415 to a pedal orknee swell, and of arms 4-6 rising from said shaft to the bar %7 fromwhich links l-S extend to said stickers. A partial turn given to saidrocker shaft causes said bar to move forward or backward and to carrysaid stickers into and out of engagement with the wippens.

The octave coupler 50 is not described nor claimed in this applicationbecause comprising the subject matter of our companion case Serial No.757,872.

Each contact 16 is coupled with another contact 51 immediately below itso that the brushes 15 shall traverse the latter contacts beforereaching the said contacts 16; and between each pair of contacts 16, 51is a resistance element 52. When a brush 15 .reaches its associatedcontact 51, said resistance allows some current to flow, but not untilthe nextcontact 16 is reached by the brush is the maximum of currentpermitted topass. By thus requiring each brush 15 to break through aresistance 52 on its way from the contact 16 associated therewith to theinsulation, its sparking is diminished to nearly nothing. Thiselimination of sparking at the brushes 15 is accomplished not alone forthe pulsatory currents delivered to the electromagnets but also for thedirect currents delivered through the same brushes to the damperoperating electromagnets 11.

It sometimes occurs that this musical instrument is to be operated byhammers alone, and while the electric current is still in circuit. Aswitch 53 is consequently provided in the lead wires 19 to permit thecircuit to the damper magnets 11 to be opened. A switch 53 opens thecircuit to the back magnets 11.

' What we claim as our invention and for which we desire Letters Patentis as follows, to wit;-

1. The combination of a sonorous body, percussive and electromagneticmeans for its actuation, a damper therefor, electromagnetic andmechanical means for actuating saiddamper, and means operative at willto determine which of said vibrating and damping means shall beeffective.

2. The combination of a sonorous body, an electromagnet for itsactuation, a damper for said body, an electromagnet controlling saiddamper, means for producing currentfor both said electromagnets, circuit connections between said means and first-named electromagnet, clrcuitconnections between said means and the second-named electroby saidelectromagnet, means connected with said armature and also connectedwith said hammer actuating means for undamping said body, the meansconnected with said armature being operative independently of the hammeractuating undamping means.

4:. The combination of a sonorous body,

means for non-percussively actuating said sonorous body, a hammerfor theactuation thereof, an action including a pivoted wlppen for operatingsaid hammer, a damper f r said body, an arm pivoted to said wlppen andadapted to be depressed by the elevation of said'wippen, a spoon rigidwith said arm engaging the tail of said damper, and electromagneticmeans for-depressing said arm.

5. The combination with a sonorous body, means for non-percussivelyactuating said body, and a key, of a sticker rising from said key, apivoted member controlling the nonper'cussive means and p. otallyconnected with the lower part of said sticker, a link pivotallyconnected with the upper part of said sticker, a laterally movable bar pvotally carrying said link, a Wippen havlng a boss projecting frombeneath its free end into the path of the upper end of saidsticker, anda pen for percussively actuating said body.

6. A musical instrument comprising-two sets of sonorous bodies tuned tothe musical scale, electromagnetic means for actuating each body of saidsets, a damper for each of said bodies, two sets of keys, and circuitconnections whereby one set of keys controls one set ofibodies and theirdampers, and the other set of keys controls both sets of bodies andtheir dampers.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing invention, we have hereunto setour hands this 29th day of January, 1910.

MELVIN L; SEVERY. GEORGE B. SINCLAIR.

Witnesses:

A. B. UPHAM, CHARLES GARRISON.

hammer operated by said'wip-

